San Antonio & Fort Worth

[tommydjr]

Planning on a 6-week trip out west in the spring.  Our first stop will be the San Antonio area for 3-4 days, the first week of April (final-4).  We will then head up to the Fort Worth area for another 3-4 days.

Any suggestions for an RV park in San Antonio, and Fort Worth would be appreciated.  We have a 40' Allegro Bus.

Thanks

 

[wayne77590]

Don't limit yourself to staying in SA, broaden your radius and you will find plenty of RV parks that are withing 30 minutes of downtown SA.  Look on www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/texas.  Our first trip was to Rio Guadalupe Resort and we enjoyed being on the "4th landing" of the Guadalupe river.  There are other rv parks along River Road.

[manholt]

Tommy.  Welcome to the forum!

Where are you coming from, other than East?  There is a lot of real estate between Orange, Texas and San Antonio!  When you get to the boarder, pick up a hard copy of TACO (free) or get on line before you leave, still get the magazine, a lot of discount coupons in there! 

[blakeloke]

tommydjr,

Last week we found a pretty neat RV Park in Boerne, TX.  Boerne is 30 minutes west of downtown San Antonio.  Top of the Hill RV Resort has paved roads, decomposed granite pull through spots and large grass areas.  With Passport America/Good Sam discount price was $22.  Friendly staff and clean resort.

Blake

[erniee]

Blake- we use to have rallies at Top of the Hill- till a wildfire came thru- I guess they have rebuilt?

[blakeloke]

Hey Ernie,

We only stayed one night there and I didn't see any evidence of fire or damage from the past.  From the campground map, to the freestanding cabins, it looks to us like Top of the Hill may have been a KOA at one time.  Don't know though.

We'd like to go back and spend a bit more time there exploring.

Hope all is well.......Blake

[manholt]

Blake.  Howdy, where have you been?

It was a KOA about 40 years ago.  Yes they did have a fire some years back.  Alzafar Shriner RV Club, used to have their Christmas Rally there until 2 years ago...then we moved to Alamo Park in Bourne (now new owners and no more short term, 6 months minimum) and this year it's Skyline Ranch RV Park in Bandera!   Linda and I will be at Buckhorn Lake RV Resort, Kerrville this Thursday for a rally!  Then on to Three Rivers for Thanksgiving....her Ranch!

 

[wildebill308]

Lots of good places recommended for SA. So I will try to fill in for the Fort Worth area.

By the way welcome to the forum.

Are you just interested in Fort Worth or ? What do you want to see/do in the area?

Cowtown RV Park, 7000 I-20 Frontage Rd, Aledo, TX 76008, cowtownrvpark.com

(817) 441-7878.

Is a nice park close to the West side of Fort Worth. If you are going to be interested in things in the mid City's area I would recommend The Vineyards Campground & Cabins, 1501 N Dooley St, Grapevine, TX 76051, vineyardscampground.com, (888) 329-8993. This park is more centrally located as we say North of the big airport.

If you have any questions just ask.

Bill

 

[blakeloke]

Hey Carl,

Doing well!  After two years Deb and I are still trying to figure out this retirement thing!  We seem to be busier than we ever have.  But, busy for a good reason.

Best to you and Linda!

Blake

[jleamont]

42 minutes ago, blakeloke said:

Hey Carl,

Doing well!  After two years Deb and I are still trying to figure out this retirement thing!  We seem to be busier than we ever have.  But, busy for a good reason.

Best to you and Linda!

Blake

[wildebill308]

1 hour ago, blakeloke said:

Hey Carl,

Doing well!  After two years Deb and I are still trying to figure out this retirement thing!  We seem to be busier than we ever have.  But, busy for a good reason.

Best to you and Linda!

Blake

Blake, you know you are retired when you say "I don't know how I ever had time to go to work."

Bill

[tommydjr]

Thanks everyone for the feedback.  My wife and I are new to this "RV'ing" stuff, so I didn't even know about things like TACO and rvparkreviews.com.

We're coming from Pennsylvania, with a stop in Memphis to check out Graceland.  In SanAntonio, we plan on going to the final four in April.  In Fort Worth, we're mostly interested in downtown, and I promised my sister I would take her to a "knitting convention" there (whatever that is).  I've also heard a lot of great things about the Stockyards.

I'll be sure to check out all your recommendations.

 

Thanks again,

Tommy 

[manholt]

Have your DW take your Sister to the "knitting" (you really don't want to know), while you check out the Stockyard !

[wildebill308]

Tommy, what rout are you taking after your stop in Memphis?

As you said you are new to this "RV'ing" stuff, hearer are a list of apps and websites that will make things easier and more fun. This is my starter list of apps.

Here are some tools to help you plan your trip. RV Parky is a good tool to find places to stay and plan routs.  http://www.rvparky.com/

Gas Buddy You can down load it from your app store. Find cheap gas and you can record your gas/fuel expenses. You can look ahead and see what the prices are where you are headed . It helps plan fuel stops.

RV park reviews is a good tool to see what other people think about a place. http://www.rvparkreviews.com/

NPS you can look up things to see/points of interest. https://www.nps.gov/index.htm

You can also see what campgrounds are available in the different parks.  

Also look at getting a pass and if you are 62 or older definitely get a Senior Pass it is a $80 Lifetime pass that covers everyone in your car. https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/passes.htm

 You may have to wait till you get to your first park they have a great way to record the parks you have ben to. It is called a Passport, you buy it in the visitor’s center, it kind of looks like a Passport but you add stickers and stamp the date and time you were at the park. 

One other thing you need is get a Passport America discount card. This is a tool to help campgrounds fill empty spots during the week or slow times. Each campground sets the time and discount but most times it is 50% and some places 3-4 days.

We saved about $450.00 last year. I think I got my $44.00 back. http://www.passport-america.com/

For navigation, I highly recommend CoPilot. We have used it for several years and it does a great job. The big benefit is you can down load maps when you have Wi-Fi and it doesn’t use data. I have it on the phones and on my tablet. The tablet gives a bigger picture to see and follow.

I like Yelp when on the road to see what places there are and to get reviews, see menus. Who wants to drive 2000 miles to eat the same fast food stuff you have at home.

Oh Ranger, is a park locater for those hidden gems like Antelope Island in the grate Salt Lake.

Rest Stops, is a good app. You might look at the apps for all the big truck stops Pilot Flying J, Loves, or get the ALLSTAYS Big Truck Stops.

Hearer are a few more about the Fort Worth area. Don't miss the Long Horn Cattle drive when in the Stockyard. Yes Fort Worth has real cowboys on the city payroll and their job is to drive cattle for the city.

https://www.fortworth.com/about/request-a-guide/

http://www.cowgirl.net/ 

The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame. Is a interesting place. 

Hearer is a link to things in Down Town Fort Worth.

https://sundancesquare.com/

That should give you something to help plan your trip.

Any questions just ask.

Bill

 

 

[manholt]

Bill.  The "Life time pass" is now $80.

[wildebill308]

1 hour ago, manholt said:

Bill.  The "Life time pass" is now $80.

Yes it is still an amazing deal. I corrected the price.

Bill 

[tbutler]

Boerne, Texas is a great place to stay to see the San Antonio area.  We spent a month at Alamo Fiesta RV Park there several years ago.  Just stopped recently and friendly and nice sites as we recalled from before.  From there you will have access to the "hill country."  This includes some really scenic country to the east and west of San Antonio.  You will be about an Hour from Austin and less than 30 minutes from downtown San Antonio.  Catch a holiday parade in San Antonio if you can.  The River Walk is a favorite of ours.  There is the Mission Trail NP, a good place to get your National Parks pass.  There are way more than three days of things to see here.  Gruene has a great dance hall for boot-scootin'.  Fredericksburg, the home of Admiral Nimitz, has the National Museum of the War in the Pacific. 

I like to use the AllStays Camp and RV app to find campgrounds and places to stay.  They have all the Wal-Mart stores indicated for overnight parking or not allowed.  It also lists everything from dump stations to fuel and repair shops.  It has many small campgrounds that aren't listed in other resources.  We also depend heavily on RV Park Reviews to find the right kind of park for us. 

Enjoy your visit and come back soon!

[fagnaml]

Tommy --

A couple suggestions from my and my wife's weekend adventures to the San Antonio area are:

1) Alsatian RV Resort in Castroville, TX which is ~25 miles from the River Walk in San Antonio --> http://www.alsatianresort.com/   In addition to big, wide spots, the Alsatian RV Resort has an on-stie restaurant, bar, big swimming pool, golf course, etc.  The city of Castroville has some unique historic sites and dining options.  And it's very convenient to San Anonio.

2) Admiralty RV Resort on the northwest side of San Antonio  --> https://www.admiraltyrvresort.com/   Admiralty is a great choice if Sea World and Six Flags Over Texas parks are on your list of things to do in San Antonio in addition to the Rive Walk. 

For the Fort Worth area, my wife and I stayed at the North Texas Jellystone RV Park ( https://www.northtexasjellystone.com/) a few years ago when LSU played Oregon in the Cowboys Classic start to the college football season.   North Texas Jellystone RV Park is south of Fort Worth on I-35W and ~25 miles from the AT&T Cowboys Stadium / Texas Rangers Stadium. 

The rates for these three RV resorts is $55/night which for my wife and I for a four day weekend outing is plenty OK especially considering a hotel room on the San Antonio River Walk cost $200+ per night !   Dallas hotels during the Cowboys Classic weekend also charge $200 per night. 

Hope this helps!

[john_harris]

if going to final 4, might look at KOA in San Antonio. Just right around the corner perhaps not more than a mile away. (assuming they are playing where the spurs play)

 

[Kiltedpig]

Hidden Valley in Von Ormy is a great place to stay,  it's  just outside San Antonio and is quiet and easy access to the loops.